A Reason Not to Go on Business Trips
by CrazyApplesandOranges
Summary: When Steve gets injured on a mission, and Tony isn't there because of a business trip, he has a slight panic attack.


Tony is in Washington D.C. when it happens.

He doesn't get the call from Pepper until after his meeting. His first reaction is: _how did I not know about this?_

His second reaction is: _holy crap, Steve's in the hospital._

Pepper has already notified the pilot of his private jet, and as fast as he can he gets on and takes his seat.

About a half hour later Tony is meeting Pepper. She's holding Peter's hand, preventing the five-year-old from running off. Tony scoops his son up and hugs him tightly, glad that Peter is safe.

"How's Steve?" he asks anxiously, clutching Peter closer. The young child buries his head in Tony's neck.

"I'm sorry, Tony…I don't know," she says. "I couldn't get any information on his condition."

Tony sighs and forces a smile. "It's okay, Pepper. You can only do so much."

He steps into the car waiting for him, Pepper following close behind. Tony pulls the seat belt over Peter, sitting in his bright red booster seat. Peter looks at him worriedly.

"Daddy, is everything okay?"

Tony smiles sadly, ruffling his son's dark hair. "Of course, Peter. Everything's fine."

The hospital at SHIELD is fairly new and updated—all because of Tony becoming careless when fighting. Even with the Iron Man armor, he was getting injured so badly Steve demanded the hospital be updated. And really, who could deny Captain America anything?

Especially when what he wanted involved Tony.

Tony holds Peter close as he walks into the SHIELD hospital. Pepper asks the receptionist where Steve's room is, and she leads the way down the hall. Tony hears Clint and Natasha before he sees them, arguing about something. They stop abruptly when he and Pepper step into view.

Tony raises an eyebrow at the strange exchange, but doesn't ask and shrugs it off. He doesn't want to know.

"I'm sorry, Tony," Natasha says. Tony shrugs.

"He'll be okay. It's not like it's life-threatening, right?"

Natasha and Clint glance at each other. Tony frowns. "It's not life-threatening, _right_?"

"Well," Clint starts.

"Oh, God," Tony moans and sinks down into an empty chair, burying his face in the hood of Peter's jacket.

"No, no, Tony, he's okay. He'll make it through," Natasha says, crouching in front of him. She glares at Clint. "Barton over here is just being stupid."

"So what happened, exactly?" Pepper asks, changing the subject.

"We were fighting, and Clint didn't warn Steve in time. He got stabbed, we straight through his gut almost. He was lucky. The doctors say that it didn't hit any major organs, and he's already healing. He should be out in a couple days."

Tony breathes out a sigh of relief, then frowns angrily. "Wait. Why didn't anyone tell me about this?"

Before they can answer him, a doctor steps into the room. "Mr. Stark?"

"Yeah?" Tony stands up.

"You can see Mr. Rogers now."

Tony follows the doctor, carrying Peter in his arms. Steve is sitting up in bed, looking slightly miserable. He brightens when he sees Tony and Peter.

"Hey," he says happily. Tony smiles and lets Peter down to rush forward.

"Papa!" he cries. "Guess what I did today!"

"What did you do today, Pete?" Steve asks, leaning down and picking Peter up to set him on the edge of the bed.

"I made a new friend!"

"Really? What's their name?"

"His name is Wade, and he's really cool! Can he come over to play this weekend?" Peter asks, pouting slightly. Steve smiles and looks up at Tony, who is now standing next to the bed.

"Sure, if it's okay with Daddy," Steve says. Tony scowls at him.

"Why do you always make me make decisions?"

"Well, for one, I'm in the hospital right now…you'll probably be the one that watches them. It's up to you," Steve says with a smirk.

"Yeah, it's okay with me." Tony sighs and lifts Peter up to shoo him towards the door. "Why don't you go tell Aunt Natasha and Uncle Clint about your new friend?"

Peter grins and bounds from the room, shouting loudly.

Tony turns back to his husband, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Why did no one inform me of this attack?" he demands. Steve sighs.

"We tried, but the woman who picked up when we called said you were in a meeting. Said she couldn't reach you and that she would give you the message when you were out."

Tony throws his arms up in the air, scowling. He starts tapping the screen of his phone, muttering to himself.

"Are you firing someone?"

"Hell yeah," Tony mutters. "She could have killed everyone and ended the world because of her ignorance. I can't have someone like that working for me."

Steve sighs. "Just don't make her cry."

"No promises, Cap."

Tony finally slips his phone back into his pocket, smiling again.

"Okay, we will never have this problem ever again. When were you getting out again?"

Steve rolls his eyes and smiles at his husband exasperatedly. "I love you."

"Love you too," Tony replies. He leans forward to kiss Steve. "But seriously," he says when they pull apart. "I hate this place. When are you getting out?"

Steve laughs and pulls Tony onto the bed with him, shaking his head. "You will never change."

"I know."

A/N: I seriously had this written like four months ago, and then never finished it. This is one of those nights where I don't want to sleep at all, so I finally pulled it out again and finished it. For those of you wondering, the next chapter of The Accident will be up tomorrow – I would have it up tonight, but I need the book and it's like two in the morning, and I'm in the basement. Plus my mom would freak if she knew I was still up, and she would definitely know if I was walking around. So I'll finish it tomorrow and maybe I'll actually feel productive. Probably not. Whatever. Review? Please?


End file.
